[Talk-us] User adding many Safeway grocery stores, with ref number in name

[Mike N]

On 1/8/2012 2:00 PM, andrzej zaborowski wrote:
> It is certainly useful but the "ref" tag (like many other tags) is
> popular enough that I think it's fair to say it's standard in OSM
> tagging.  So let's tag consistently and use this tag for reference
> numbers.

   This makes sense in this case.   I've never been clear about the 
purpose of the ref tag - it's not even clear how to tag roads in the US 
with the ref tag.   Some include the network "I 95" , others include the 
state "VA 47", others use numbers only.

> BTW It's great that people in companies like Safeway are tasked with
> adding their stores, this is so good to see.  They only need to find,
> or make, a render that will show their name + ref number on the map.

   +1 on the Safeway project and the high quality of this user's 
contributions.   The only possible remaining problem is that one or more 
people within the organization will want to see the name on the map with 
the internal designation, and creating their own style sheet with a 
public tile rendering server is way, way, way outside their scope of 
duties.   They would use GoogleMapMaker or some related tool rather than 
that.   The same scenario is likely to happen with other numbered chain 
stores, not just this one.